How to Find a CSA

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How to Find a CSA

(Community-Supported Agriculture)

Are you interested in getting regular fresh fruits, vegetable, or meat? Do you want to know where your food is coming from? Do you want it to be more nutritious? (The more Vehicle Miles Traveled or VMT usually reduces the nutrition content of food.) Do you want to support local farms in your area? Do you want to incorporate more fresh food into your weekly meal plans?

Whatever your reason, joining a CSA is a great idea! If you found a couple of options but aren’t sure what to pick, check out my post on “How to Choose a CSA“.

Finding the Right CSA

There are a lot of ways to find a CSA. Here are a couple of ways:

1) Ask your friends if they already participate in CSA.

Friends are a great resource especially if they share the same values or concerns such as eating organic, humane animal treatment, or being a vegetarian. They may have done the leg-work already.

2) Ask farmers or other vendors at the farmer’s market

(Did you know that a lot of markets take SNAP benefits? This helps make access to nutritious food more equitable.) This is a good technique if you already visit a particular vendor at the market and like their products. If that farmer doesn’t offer a CSA, they may have friends that do or you might inspire them to try it!

This website is a good starting point but it isn’t the be all and end all of listings. I’ve found that some listings are out dated or they don’t contain all of the farms, at least in my area. But it definitely has enough information to start the search.

4) Search your state’s Department of Agriculture.

For many states, the agricultural department publicizes CSAs. They may not have every potential listing but it’s a start. Here are some for the Northeast: